I'm wondering the same thing. Good thing David is gone because I immediately thought of him. Same thing goes for Mahsa. Not sure why, but I've got a sneaking suspicion it's one of the girls.

I was shocked that it wasn't. I never in a million years would have thought that it would be Anand. And to make it worse, he lied to Trump. I wonder if he could have survived had he admitted the truth. I guess we will never know.

This episode opened with a seemingly benign visit to the Boardroom until Trump stated that there was a cheater in the group who had broken the rules. Anand was pinpointed as the offender. Anand twice denied that he had cheated by breaking rules regarding coercing people to bring money to buy something. Now, I haven’t seen the official rules in question but I do know that the spirit of raising money for charities has involved a lot of requests to bring money to buy something similar. So, how valid was an attack on Anand? I don’t think it was valid. However, Trump was in charge and he differed with my opinion. He wanted a witch hunt and that is what he maneuvered to get. Anand was forced to admit that what he did was wrong and then he was fired. Liza was sent back to Fortitude to balance the teams.

The episode reopens with a challenge to in-store displays at two locations for the introduction of a new line of Kim Kardashian perfumes. It was Clint, Brandy and Steuart against Poppy, Stephanie and Liza. The PMs are Clint and Poppy. Clint thinks it will be difficult to beat the women on this one. For those who do not remember Celebrity Apprentice history, Kim is the sister of Khloe Kardahian on CA2 who was essentially fired by Trump not for any wrongdoing on her part but for things that had happened about one year prior that did not look good about her veracity. The head of the Perfumania Company perfume company she is working for now, Steven Nussbaum, came to explain to each team what the task involved.

Octane worked well together, defining the necessary work and assigning it within their team to get it done in a timely fashion. Fortitude also worked well together, but they developed inferior concepts such as use of feather boas, rhinestones, and the perfume bottles themselves.

It’s time for the presentation of the fortitude display to Steven Nussbaum and he throws a curve ball by brining Kim Kardashian with him. She will actually be making the decision about which display concept is more “her.” When she goes to the Octane presentation, they took are flustered but let their display speak for itself, which it does eloquently. By the way, as the character Fernando played by Billy Crystal would say, Kim looks fabulous.

The official feedback from Perfumania was delivered to Trump. During the Boardroom, he had his children present it. Donald Jr. revealed the judges’ take on the Fortitude display: cheap and kitschy, the sequins and feather boas were juvenile and conflicted with the sophisticated brand identity because they also were also cheap and kitschy. Ivanka revealed that the judges loved the clean lines of the Octane display. Kim particularly loved the pink and lavender background as it accentuated the bottles and the fragrance. The judges felt that the display was sophisticated and understated, and clearly the winner. So Octane wins and cliff will get to meet with Barry Sternicht of Starwood Hotels.

It looks probable that Poppy will go down with the ship for being the losing PM. She maneuvered to try to avoid that. Poppy explained that she doesn’t like to talk over people. Mr. Trumps response was that she’d better start talking because she’s going to get fired. He goes on to say that she was the Project Manager, did a lousy job, the product was terrible, and that Poppy’s just sitting back and letting Liza and Stephanie fight. Poppy tried to wriggle out of the noose, but there was no particular smoking gun to nail either Stephanie or Liza. Poppy was eliminated.

nand was pinpointed as the offender. Anand twice denied that he had cheated by breaking rules regarding coercing people to bring money to buy something. Now, I haven’t seen the official rules in question but I do know that the spirit of raising money for charities has involved a lot of requests to bring money to buy something similar. So, how valid was an attack on Anand? I don’t think it was valid. However, Trump was in charge and he differed with my opinion. He wanted a witch hunt and that is what he maneuvered to get. Anand was forced to admit that what he did was wrong and then he was fired. Liza was sent back to Fortitude to balance the teams.

Good points apskip! In the Celebrity series he fired people for NOT calling friends to bring in more money. I don't know what the rules are for the regular apprentices but it didn't seem like such a big deal. The lie was though. I just hate that he left with this hanging over his reputation or at least what we perceive from the editing.

My local TV station don't even bother to buy this show anymore... About 5 seasons ago, now that i actually think of it.

Yes, this is the first Apprentice season in awhile. We've had 3 Celebrity seasons in between. This has been a good season, all of the apprentice contestants are smart, and intense.

That's what you get when you put a group of desperate people together.

I can't believe Liza's still there. If I were PM, I'd let her actually do stuff that she could be blamed for if it fails instead of let her get props and me doing most of the work and owning up most of the responsibilities. Of course, Stephanie thought she had it at first, but I knew it was her downfall (especially when she didn't consider Liza's ideas). I mean, she's teamed up with Liza only, duh.

Right now I'm rooting for Brandy (well, she took down Mahsa, which I didn't expect from her! and she's a tough worker) & Liza (Liza wasn't my fave but immediately she became the underdog and she's still there!).

My local TV station don't even bother to buy this show anymore... About 5 seasons ago, now that i actually think of it.

Yes, this is the first Apprentice season in awhile. We've had 3 Celebrity seasons in between. This has been a good season, all of the apprentice contestants are smart, and intense.

That's what you get when you put a group of desperate people together.

I can't believe Liza's still there. If I were PM, I'd let her actually do stuff that she could be blamed for if it fails instead of let her get props and me doing most of the work and owning up most of the responsibilities. Of course, Stephanie thought she had it at first, but I knew it was her downfall (especially when she didn't consider Liza's ideas). I mean, she's teamed up with Liza only, duh.

Right now I'm rooting for Brandy (well, she took down Mahsa, which I didn't expect from her! and she's a tough worker) & Liza (Liza wasn't my fave but immediately she became the underdog and she's still there!).

I would guess Brandy & Clint will be in the finale, Mr. Trump looks like he likes them

I would guess Brandy & Clint will be in the finale, Mr. Trump looks like he likes them

That would be my guess as well. Clint has been stellar and he has an air of authority about him. He can be assertive but not annoying. I like him a lot.

About Brandy, I did not like her whining about not being part of the Octane team with Clint and Steuart. I would have more respect for her if she had just jumped in and helped to meld in and become a team player on a equal basis. She could have done it but instead complained to Ivanka. Who would you want to hire would be my question.

I haven't seen my tape of the penultimate episode of the Apprentice 10. I would bet a lot of money that Trump's methods for going from 4 competitors to 2 in one episode will result in neither Steuart (a nice guy but not showing a lot of gumption and leadership) nor Liza (no particular skills that I have noticed except an instinct for survival) reaching the final 2.

It has been predestined that Brandy and Clint as the best leaders will be the Final 2. I should be able to view and write about that episode by this evening, so be watching this thread to see if I have to eat crow.

Steuart met with Cathy Black, at the time CEO of a publishing empire but this week the new New York City Schools Chancellor. She gave him sage but obvious advice to keep his overhead low by staying lean.

Trump wanted for some unknown reason (probably to set up the final 2 that he wanted) to rebalance the teams, Brandy went back to join Liza on Fortitude. He arranged helicopters to fly Clint and Steuart and Brandy and Liza to West Chester PA to the headquarters of QVC Corp. IN the air, Steuart told Clint that he reminded Steuart of his father (Clint is 40; Steuart is 27). The task was to maximize profits on the sale of one of 4 Isaac Mizrahi designer products. Each team had to negotiate with the other to pick a product and the earlier or later time slot. The only difference in the time slots was that the later one gave the team with it maybe 10 minutes more preparation time. The PMs were Liza and Clint. The “eyes and ears” were headhunters Juan Betancourt and Catherine Roman.

Octane wanted a woman’s handbag but negotiated as if they wanted a watch or a belt. Fortitude wanted the belt. Clint offered to give Fortitude the product choice if Octane got the later time slot. His negotiations strategy worked brilliantly, as Liza was focused on that watch, which left anything else including the handbag to Octane. Clint then nominated the handbag and Liza was surprised. Catherine who observed this negotiation gave Clint credit for dominating Liza.

The next issue to settle was the pricing for each team. The cost base was $30.50 for the watch and Liza and Brandy decided to sell it for $69.95, a profit margin of nearly $40 per item sold. The cost base for the handbag was $108. Clint and Steuart seriously discussed selling it for $200 to $250, but Clint decided to go with three E-Z-Pay Installment payments of $64.99 for a total of $194.97. Did each team find a reasonable price point to optimize sales? We’ll find out later.

The choice of on-camera host to chat with the QVC host went to Brandy and Steuart respectively. Liza decided this based on research she cited that 85% of the buyers would be Caucasian. Brandy and Steuart both were more at ease in that environment and both did a really good job. Their PMs became their directors feeding them advice and lines throughout the 5 minute on air time. I think both Brandy and Steuart distinguished themselves at the harder role versus Liza and Clint. Isaac Mizrahi watched the on air piece live from Trump Tower with Donald Trump. One thing that I picked up on but maybe wasn’t a big issue because of the smaller dollars involved was that Liza and Brandy did not pitch the E-Z-Pay Installment Plan at all while Clint and Steuart (with the pressure of a price almost 3 times as high) did pitch it.

Liza’s post-mortem was that it did not go well. Clint’s post mortem was that he loved it and thought it went great. The comments that really counted were by Isaac to Donald. He stated that Brandy was “a natural on camera” although Steuart was also very good. He also suggested that the optimum price point for the handbag was lower than the chosen selling price and for the watch was above the chosen selling price. So what does that mean? It means that the team winning the highest profit wins the task and one person from the losing team will surely be fired.

In the Boardroom, Trump asked Liza how she decided to have Brandy on air. She cited the demographics. Trump admitted that race is an issue no matter what we would like to think. Brandy stated that it would not have mattered who presented on air. Trump asked Clint if he priced high or low. Catherine asked what the Octane negotiations strategy was. Steuart stated with relish “We duped them.” Clint said that their primary focus was on getting the later time slot more than the purse but they ended up with both. Clint said that he fed Steuart keywords to say throughout the presentation. Liza did the same for Brandy (like the Holly Hunter character in “Broadcast News”).

It was time for the grand reveal. Fortitude sold 77 watches for a profit of $2978 and Octane sold 25 handbags for a profit of $2174.25. Fortitude won, so Liza and Brandy were asked to go wait in the lobby. It is time for a faceoff between Clint and Steuart for who avoids elimination.

Clint got in the opening salvo with “I am a CEO right now out of the box.” Steuart responded that he had been running his own business for years. Steuart stated that Clint is a very good guy (they like each other), but Clint does not have the metropolitan finesse and polish that Steuart does. At this point Juan Betancourt jumped in and agreed that Steuart would be better for the Trump New York City empire. Clint responded that his experience at age 40 is vastly superior to Steuart’s at age 27. Clint responded to a question from Trump about educational credentials by stating that he has a BS from SMU and a MBA from TCU plus credentials as a lawyer, real estate broker, CPA and mediator. Wow, I’m impressed, and that is not easy to do. Catherine stated that Clint has a more complete tool bag and more breadth in his background. Steuart said his BS is from Purdue. Clint cited his entrepreneurial spirit. Trump chose this moment to change gears and say “Steuart, you’re fired.”

He then asked the ladies to come back to the Boardroom where he predicted that one individual of the 3 remaining will be fired immediately. The episode ends with a To Be Continued, but anyone with savvy can predict where this is going. There is no basis for elevating Liza to the final 2 while both Clint and Brandy have earned it. Liza will be the one fired in spite of having just been the winning Project Manager.

So, I will proceed with the assumption that Liza is the one fired at the beginning of tonight's episode. Who do I like for he next Apprentice? Trump could not lose with either of them, as they are exceptionally well qualified to be an Apprentice. I like Brandy. She is a bit smoother than Clint but still gets done most of what he can do. Her superior presentation skills will win the day.

I applaud Donald Trump for a major change in his approach to going from 4 to 2 final Apprentice candidates. In all prior seasons that I can recall, he has used some version of an interviewing process to provide additional input beyond that available in the episodes. I viewed this as pure window dressing, since Trump made the decisions himself and could selectively use whatever of that input fit his preconceived notions of who should move forward. The most egregious example of this was when Brande Roderick was fired instead of Joan Rivers.

In Apprentice 10, Trump had a normal episode with one member of the losing team fired, but he could choose either one that he wished. It was not the Project Manager Clint; it was Steuart actually fired. There was conflicting advice from two headhunters who served as his "eyes and ears." The final elimination to reach the Final 2 was of Liza, who certainly was less qualified than either Clint or Brandy to move ahead.

I haven't seen my tape of the penultimate episode of the Apprentice 10. I would bet a lot of money that Trump's methods for going from 4 competitors to 2 in one episode will result in neither Steuart (a nice guy but not showing a lot of gumption and leadership) nor Liza (no particular skills that I have noticed except an instinct for survival) reaching the final 2.

It has been predestined that Brandy and Clint as the best leaders will be the Final 2. I should be able to view and write about that episode by this evening, so be watching this thread to see if I have to eat crow.

I also liked the way he managed the final choice. Brandy and Clint both deserve to be the final two for Trump's apprentice job. I believe that Steuart and Liza would be excellent employees and really this season's candidates all have potential. (Even David if he finds something he loves doing.)

We were teased with Clint drawing criticism for saying "Y'all" but I suspect this is a diversion. It appears that the biggest mistake on Clint's part was misspelling Liza Minnelli's name on the poster and place cards. Will he be able to fix this with such a limited budget.

Brandy didn't seem to have had the potentially catastrophic situations that Clint experienced, surely there will be one or two for her as well. Losing Liza's help so she could play golf with Trump doesn't seem like a big deal to me, normally in any task she would be sent away to get rid of her so why would this be any different?

I disagree with your position on the relative unimportance of Brandy losing Liza's help for a significant period of time. During that time, Brandy has lost 25% of her team resources. my impression is that the team is stretched pretty thin, with lots of checking on details to challenge them. That time is significant and will limit Team Brandy.